Highlights of This Issue

Abstract

Arsenic poses a significant human cancer risk and millions worldwide are exposed to naturally occurring arsenic in grains, vegetables, meats and fish, and through food processed with water containing arsenic. Oberoi and colleagues estimated the global burdens of bladder, lung, and skin cancers due to inorganic arsenic in food using World Health Organization estimates of food consumption and reported arsenic levels in different foods. Worldwide, thousands of additional cases of bladder, lung, and skin cancers are attributable to inorganic arsenic in food. These findings warrant policy changes to help reduce arsenic in food.Exposure to light-at-night has been shown to disrupt melatonin production, but this effect has only partly been confirmed in studies of night shift workers. Papantoniou and colleagues examined the variation of urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin levels in day or night shift workers while continuously monitoring light exposure. 6-sulfatoxymelatonin levels were lower in night compared to day workers and the lowest 6-sulfatoxymelatonin levels were observed in night workers. These findings may relate to future cancer risks in these worker populations.Infections in early childhood may protect against pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Marcotte and colleagues selected pediatric ALL cases from the California Cancer Registry and investigated markers of exposure to infections, including date of birth, and the timing of influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) seasons. The authors observed an increased risk of ALL for spring and summer births and for those first exposed to an influenza or RSV season at nine to twelve months compared to those exposed during the first three months of life. These results support the hypothesis that infections in early childhood decrease risk of ALL.Inflammation influences cancer development and progression and an elevated platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) has been linked to poor prognosis in several malignancies. Templeton and colleagues conducted a systematic review to explore the association of blood PLR and overall survival from various solid tumors. A significant association between blood PLR and survival was observed for colorectal, hepatocellular, gastroesophageal, ovarian, and pancreatic carcinoma. PLR represents an inexpensive biomarker with prognostic value in solid tumors.